Catcher In The Rye By J. D. Salinger: Character Analysis

The Catcher in the Rye is one of J. D. Salinger's world-famous books about the disgruntled youth. Holden Caulfield is the main character and he is a seventeen- year-old dropout who has just been kicked out of his fourth school. Navigating his way through the challenges of growing up, Holden separates the “phony” aspects of society, and the “phonies” themselves. Some of these “phony” people in his life are the headmaster whose friendliness depends on the wealth of the parents, and his roommate who scores with girls using sickly-sweet affection. This book deals with the complex issues of identity, belonging, connection, and alienation. Holden senses these feelings most of the time and is guilty about many things in

Lies, failure, depression, and loneliness are only some of the aspects that Holden Caulfield goes through in the novel The Catcher in the Rye written by J.D. Salinger. Salinger reflects Holden’s character through his own childhood experiences. Salinger admitted in a 1953 interview that "My boyhood was very much the same as that of the boy in the book.… [I]t was a great relief telling people about it” (Wikipedia). Thus, the book is somewhat the life story of J.D. Salinger as a reckless seventeen-year-old who lives in New York City and goes through awful hardships after his expulsion and departure from an elite prep school. Holden, the protagonist in this novel, is created as a depressed, cynical, and isolated character and he

“Don’t tell people what you are thinking, or you will miss them terribly when you are away” (Salinger 214) says Holden Caulfeild as he warns the world. Salingers novel pinpoints the many fears and phobias of growing up from an immature, pessimistic, “everybody’s a goddam phony” perspective that makes it relate-able to young transitioning teenagers. Salinger's Caulfeild is afraid of growing up and the unknown prospects of entering the adult world after experiencing a life changing event. Holden, clinging to his innocence, most importantly learns how the Phony adult world not only treats people like HC poorly, but it kills them.

In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger tells a story of a young boy, Holden, who never quite understood his stance on life. Throughout the novel, Holden struggles to adapt to the inevitable transition into adulthood, often worrying more about others than himself. In The Catcher in the Rye, J.D. Salinger uses connotative diction, repetition, and specific diction to convey Holden’s struggle of accepting life changes that led him to becoming mentally unstable.            To start off, Salinger illustrates Holden’s nature by using connotative diction.

J.D. Salinger’s The Catcher in the Rye presents a look into the mind of Holden Caulfield, a popular literary icon numerous teenagers have rightfully found themselves relating to at some point. While the familiar emotions of Holden were welcoming for me, his anecdotes and witty remarks proved entertaining as well. The story chronicles Holden’s exploration through New York post-expulsion, with his point of view influenced by his growing alienation with the world. He represents that growing sense of unease at growing up and facing a reality that is not always pretty, and, in his case, a need to save children from having to face that reality. I personally admired the fact that he was not just an angry teenager in the world as stereotypes suggest.

Written in 1951, J.D. Salinger’s, The Catcher in the Rye continues to be a popular book amongst Americans. Although The Catcher in the Rye has been banned in many public school settings in the United States it continues to stay atop some of the greatest books of all time lists. Whether people are in their teens or in their fifties they find themselves drawn to Holden Caulfield. At some point in their life they could relate to a sense of alienation, caused by money and wealth. Humans are wired to be jealous and want what others have. Holden Caulfield has the opposite problem, he has money and wealth which he inherited from his hard working parents. However, he himself is not motivated to work hard, graduate prep school and earn his own wealth. Instead he despises hard working students at the many prep schools he drops out of. Holden also has a big number of family complications. An area to explore is how wealth can contribute to feelings of alienation and despair. Holden Caulfield has a complex relationship with money, not wanting to associate from it, but benefiting from it. A further look into the 1950’s may give an insight into the troubled mind of Holden Caulfield.

In the novel Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger, the protagonist Holden Caulifield views the world as an evil corrupt place where there is no peace. Holden has a phony phobia that restricts him from becoming a fully matured adult. In Holden's attempted journey in becoming a fully matured adult, he encounters many scenarios involving friendship, personal opinions, and his love of children. His journey is an unpleasant and difficult one with many lessons learned along the way; including the realization that he is powerless to change the world.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel by J.D. Salinger. It is narrated by Holden Caulfield, a cynical teenager who recently got expelled from his fourth school. Though Holden is the narrator and main character of the story, the focus of Salinger’s tale is not on Caulfield, but of the world in which we live. The Catcher in the Rye is an insatiable account of the realities we face daily seen through the eyes of a bright young man whose visions of the world are painfully truthful, if not a bit jaded. Salinger’s book is a must-read because its relatable symbolism draws on the reader’s emotions and can easily keep the attention of anyone.

Martin Luther King Junior once said “Only when it is dark enough can you see the stars”. This quote implies that it is easier to see beauty in life once one is at their lowest point. The light King refers to is the positive things in our lives, and the darkness is representative of negative points in a person’s life. I agree with this quote, because many people take the good things in their lives for granted until they are gone. When the “stars”, or positive things in life are gone, one realizes how truly wonderful they were.

Brigham Young a church man in the mid 1800’s stated “ You educate a man; you educate a man. You educate a woman; you educate a generation.” Women have been fighting for gender equality since the 19th century and it is still a problem today in certain countries. When examining The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger from a feminist perspective, it becomes clear that the character Phoebe is an ideal/hero for Holden because she redefines the stereotypes. The oversimplified images of women held by anti feminists were that women were unintelligent, were not courageous and these anti feminists did not hold a high opinion for women or respect them. However, Phoebe is the opposite of these stereotypes, she is intelligent, courageous and a role model

The relationship between Holden and the "phonies" shows how Holden despise the society at first. Whenever he meets people he thinks they are "phony" he would criticize them. For instance during the intermission of the play, the conversation between Sally and George

J.D. Salinger 's "The Catcher in the Rye" portrays a troubled teen in New York City. Over the few days the novel depicts, the boy displays his critical and unhealthy mindset. Eventually he has a mental breakdown. Through psychoanalysis of Holden Caulfield, one may suggest that Allie 's death, social development, and an identity crisis are large contributing factors in Holden 's mental breakdown.

The story starts as Holden Caulfield has recently been expelled from a very expensive private school Pencey Prep in Agerstown, Pennsylvania for failing four classes. He is not very sad about it, because he used to see his school as a prostitute, which claims to have been molding boys into clear-thinking young men since 1888. He also lost popularity in his fencing team, for not going to a very important game. He decides to say goodbye to his history teacher Spencer, who knows that Holden is not coming back to Pencey.

For the novel “The Catcher in the Rye”, I decided to write about Robert Ackley and Ward Stradlater. I decided to write about them because they seem to have plenty of character in the novel and they also were very well-spoken of. Ackley had some anger towards Ward Stradlater due to his superior attitude. I personally believe it was just because Stradlater was popular and self-centered while Ackley was someone who had too much negativity holding inside within himself. Every time Ackley would barge into Holden and Stradlater’s dorm, he’d double check to see if Stradlater was around. If he wasn’t, he’d walk in, but if he was, he wouldn’t attempt to do so.

The Catcher in the Rye is a novel written in 1951 by author J.D. Salinger and is classified as a bildungsroman. The story portrays the story of a sixteen year old boy, Holden, who tends to endlessly criticize the world and people around him but never reflects on himself or his own character. While most bildungsroman characters show progress and growth throughout the story, Holden does not. He is rather unorthodox, or irregular from what you’d look for in a bildungsroman character. Which makes sense as Holden tries with so much effort to not be “boring” or “phony” like everyone else. His nihilistic view on the world shows to be a reflection of his own loneliness and possible depression. This in turn leads to the actual question as to whether or not our protagonist ever has his bildungsroman moment.